3.5 – Dalek Empire III – The Warriors

Galanar and Elaria discover who they are as the Graxis Wardens push deeper into Dalek territory.

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Styre
on May 7, 2016 at 8:50 PM

DALEK EMPIRE III

CHAPTER FIVE: THE WARRIORS

One episode worth of padding was bad enough, but two? I’m forced to ask a second time why “Dalek Empire III” consists of six parts, now that Nicholas Briggs has essentially wasted two of them with needless repetition. The dramatic rescue of Galanar, Elaria, and Tarkov at the beginning is exciting enough, but it quickly gives way to interminable scenes of suspicion amongst the Wardens, the Demons, and Tarkov himself. There’s nothing particularly wrong or illogical about Tarkov’s suspicion, and Galanar opening up to him in order to earn his trust is a time-honored dramatic device — but we’ve heard all of this before. We already know Galanar’s background, and being forced to sit through a rehash is totally unnecessary. Furthermore, Tarkov’s paranoia is almost completely over the top — it would be okay if the situation allowed time for it, but considering that the audience is presented with a tense race against time, the Tarkov scenes jar horribly. The fuel depot, too, is problematic: “Dalek War” contained an obvious trap, but it was so audacious (a terraformed Jupiter?!) that it invited curiosity. Here, the depot is an even more obvious trap, and it doesn’t even have a hook: a lightly-guarded gas station isn’t gripping in the slightest. The play is rescued somewhat by its first part, in which Kaymee learns the true nature of the Dalek plot, but even these revelations are fairly obvious: the Daleks are behind the plague? You don’t say. Still, the desperate performances from Laura Rees and Oliver Hume hold the opening scenes together. Overall, the plot is becoming more linear, more obvious, and slower, and the series still isn’t showing any thematic ambition — it’ll take a stellar final part to save things.